Good Faith Weekly

A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Rev. Autumn Wiggins-Merrill and her husband Jordan to talk about Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health Disorders.

Rev. Autumn Wiggins-Merrill is the Co-Founder and Director of Community Engagement at the Faith and Recovery Network.  FRN is dedicated to bridging the gap between faith-based or community organizations and the mental health and addiction recovery sectors.

As a Certified Peer Recovery Specialist in family support services, Autumn combines her spiritual leadership with a strong commitment to advocating for and supporting families as they navigate recovery.  

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: Rev. Autumn Wiggins-Merrill - https://www.faithandrecoverynetwork.org/

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Lesley Curtis to discuss the impact of polarization and trauma.

Lesley Curtis is the founder of the Sagely Center and a trusted guide for leaders working in high-stress or trauma-impacted environments. She holds a doctorate from Duke University, where her research explored how historical trauma shapes collaboration, belief, and decision-making.

She has also taught leadership and innovation at the University of North Carolina Graduate School and served as a practicum instructor at the UNC School of Social Work. With her team, she also writes and podcasts at Lead Consciously, exploring new ways of thinking about leadership, change, and organizational success.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: Lesley Curtis - https://sagelycenter.com/about

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Dr. Greg Garrett to discuss his latest book, White Lies: Dismantling Ten Cultural Myths About Race.

Dr. Greg Garrett is a professional writer who teaches creative writing, film, literature, and theology classes at Baylor University. He is the author of thirty books of fiction, nonfiction, memoir, and translation, including the critically-acclaimed novels Free Bird, Cycling, Shame, The Prodigal, and Bastille Day.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Greg Garrett - https://english.artsandsciences.baylor.edu/person/dr-greg-garrett

Book: White Lies: Dismantling Ten Cultural Myths About Race - https://www.amazon.com/White-Lies-Dismantling-Cultural-Myths-ebook/dp/B0GZ5QMKPD

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Dr. Randall Balmer to talk about our nation's 250-year history and, in particular, religion's role in shaping it.

Dr. Randall Balmer, an Episcopal priest and New York Times bestselling author, teaches Religion in North America at Dartmouth College. He is a CNN Contributor, the author of more than a dozen books, and his commentaries appear in newspapers across the country. In 2024, the American Academy of Religion gave him the Martin E. Marty Award for the Public Understanding of Religion.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Randall Balmer  - https://www.randallbalmer.com/

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Lucas Wilson to discuss his latest book, Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors' Stories of Conversion Therapy, which explores the experiences of survivors of conversion therapy.

Lucas Wilson is a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at University of Toronto Mississauga. As a former evangelical and a survivor of conversion therapy, he is the editor of Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors’ Stories of Conversion Therapy (JKP Books, 2025). He is also the author of At Home with the Holocaust: Postmemory, Domestic Space, and Second-Generation Holocaust Narratives(Rutgers University Press, 2025), which received the Jordan Schnitzer First Book Publication Award.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Lucas Wilson - https://lgbtqdigitalcollaboratory.org/histories-from-below-a-conversation-with-dr-lucas-wilson/

Book:

 Shame-Sex Attraction: Survivors' Stories of Conversion Therapy - https://www.amazon.com/Shame-Sex-Attraction-Survivors-Stories-Conversion/dp/1805011324?=undefined&linkCode=sl1&tag=bycomcon-20&linkId=e6c3b075f9b3d13acd0e3e9fe9960219&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Kathy Baldock to discuss her newest book, Forging a Sacred Weapon: The 1946 Bible Misinterpretation Behind Anti-Gay Theology.

Kathy Baldock, author, LGBT advocate, international speaker and educator, and Executive Director of CanyonWalker Connections, is a leading expert on LGBT issues in the United States, especially regarding historical and current discrimination faced by the socially conservative Christian church and political sector. Her 2014 book, Walking the Bridgeless Canyon: Repairing the Breach Between the Church and the LGBT Community, and accompanying Untangling the Mess presentations, blog, podcast, and videos, piece together the history behind LGBT persecution in the church and the need for conservative Christians and church leaders to become better educated in order to properly engage members of the LGBT community.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Kathy Baldock - https://canyonwalkerconnections.com/about/kathy-baldock/

Book: Forging a Sacred Weapon: The 1946 Bible Misinterpretation Behind Anti-Gay Theology - https://canyonwalkerconnections.com/forging-a-sacred-weapon-how-the-church-became-anti-gay-hub/

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with The Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck to discuss how Faithful America recently partnered with Indivisible to launch the Frontline Faithful Tour — a multi-state journey to communities where the fight against Christian nationalism is most urgent.

The Rev. Dr. Shannon Fleck is an Oklahoma native and Executive Director of Faithful America, where she leads her team in prophetically confronting white Christian nationalism in the United States. For nearly 8 years prior to taking on the role with Faithful America, Dr. Fleck led the Oklahoma Faith Network, where she drew attention to religious extremism in the nation’s reddest state. Dr. Fleck actively consults with faith leaders, politicians, lawyers, judges, businesses, and nonprofit organizations on strategic responses to religious extremism in local contexts and has been instrumental in cultivating effective, impactful responses.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Shannon Fleck - https://www.faithfulamerica.org/team/rev-dr-shannon-fleck

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Keri Ladner to discuss her newest book, American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of a New Christendom, an insightful exploration of the rise of dominionism and its growing impact on American politics, faith, and culture.

Keri Ladner, PhD, is an expert on fundamentalist politics in America and the radicalization of the conservative movement. She specializes in the religious beliefs of the American right wing, and her work illuminates how those beliefs have become part of American power structures. She is the author of End Time Politics: From the Moral Majority to QAnon, and her publications have been featured in numerous media outlets, including Christian Century, Religion Dispatches, and Good Faith Media.

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Keri Ladner - https://goodfaithmedia.org/author/keri-ladner/

Book: American Dominion: The Rise and Radicalization of the New Christodom - https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/american-dominion-9798216275770/

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy sat down with Jonathan Brenneman, co-founder of Christians for Free Palestine, to talk about the dangers of Christian Zionism.

Jonathan Brenneman comes from a long line of Mennonites on his father’s side and a prominent Palestinian Christian family on his mother’s side. After attending Huntington University, where he studied History and Philosophy, he worked with the Christian Peacemaker Teams Palestine Project in Hebron. CPT’s mission is to build partnerships to transform violence and oppression. 

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Jonathan Brenneman - https://theologyandpeace.com/2017-conference-embracing-we-centricity/2017-plenary-speakers/jonathan-brenneman/

Christians for a Free Palestine:  https://christiansforafreepalestine.com

Interfaith Action for Palestine (CUFI protest): https://www.interfaithforpalestine.com 

 A weekly podcast exploring stories at the intersection of faith and culture through an inclusive Christian lens.

This week: Mitch and Missy marked the 300th episode of Good Faith Weekly by reconnecting with Imad Enchassi, who joined us as one of our very first guests back in 2020.

Imad Enchassi is the senior Imam at the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City and chair of Islamic Studies at Wimberly School of Religion at Oklahoma City University. He is the author of Cloud Miles: A Remarkable Journey of Mercy, Peace and Purpose, and appeared in the short GFM-produced documentary “Mercy” (2018) and the feature-length documentary, “Different Books, Common Word: Baptists and Muslims” (2010).

"Good Faith Weekly" is produced out of Norman, Oklahoma. Music is by Pond5. Learn more at www.GoodFaithMedia.org and @GFMediaOrg

Links: 

Imad Enchassi - https://www.okcu.edu/faculty/imad-enchassi-ph-d

Episodes we referenced

EP 152 - Otis Moss III - comic books - https://youtu.be/aUawIYHi6Dg

EP 220 - Amy Jill Levine - margaritas in the bible - https://youtu.be/fWfbofLRq2g

EP 135 - Brian McClaren's first visit - https://youtu.be/p6KnLwIc898

EP 217 Brian McClaren - frog in toilet - https://youtu.be/sjRSo9cLJG8

EP 218 Mitch's head injuries - https://youtu.be/srtPbjL6d4o

EP 155 Fish net in the bathtub - https://youtu.be/CcZeQ6DcDmQ

EP 161 Airplane lap dance - https://youtu.be/CepFts-CPvk